SaZhi “Securing the priceless land for prosperity and happiness”

National Land Commission’s quarterly newsletter January–March, 2015 Vol. II, Issue I

Inside this Issue New Thrams issued New Heads for Divisions Pg. 3

Geospatial Data for Pg. 4 s e v e n s o u t h e r n Dzongkhags A team of RBA Pg. 5 personnel undergo survey training Secretary meets Gewog Pg. 8 Officials of Pemagatshel

Overall concept & advisor: Pema Chewang, Secretary

Editorial board Ugyen Tenzing– Specialist / Program Director, (NRPO) Tenzin Namgay- Head ,RLD Gungsang Wangdi- PPD Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongrab receiving new Thrams

The Secretary of National Land Com- mission handed over 9785 Lagthrams of 11 gewogs of Pemagatshel to Senior Drungpa Nima Gyeltshen of Nganglam Drungkhag on 8th January, 2015 .

Likewise, on 28th January, 2015, 10729 Lagthrams of 11 gewogs of Samdrup- jongkhar dzongkhag were handed over to Dzongrab Phurpa Wangdi.

Till date, NLCS has handed over new lagthrams to 13 dzongkhags of Lhuntse, Mongar, Tashigang, Tashi- yangtse, Bumthang, Trongsa, Zhemgang, Punakha, Wangdipho- drang, Dagana, Haa, Pemagatshel and Nganglam Drungpa receiving new Thrams of Pemagatshel Dzongkhag Samdrupjongkhar. Volume II, Issue I Page 2 Contract expires with the completion of NCRP

Secretary bidding farewell to the contract staff

The National Cadastral Resur- the NLCS had recruited 217 Their contract term expired on vey Programme (NCRP) had staff comprising of Assistant 28th February 2015. These con- started in June 2008 from Lhut- Land Registrars, Surveyors, tract staff were awarded with nse Dzongkhag and ended with Land record Assistants, Survey certificate of competency and spill-over activity in Paro Field Assistants and even Driv- appreciation in recognition of dzongkhag in February 2015. ers. They were recruited in dif- their dedicated service towards The massive resurvey of each ferent batches and year on con- successful completion of registered land parcel of the en- tract. NCRP. tire country began with just 25 survey teams, 7 control teams and 20 land record teams in the beginning of the programme.

With the experience gained af- ter the completion of resurvey in the first Dzongkhag of Lhuntse it was felt that the existing teams were insufficient to com- plete the resurvey of the whole country within the stipulated time frame of 3 years.

Considering the requirement of increased number of survey teams and land record teams, Hon’ble Secretary awarding certificate of appreciation to a contract staff SaZhi Page 3 New Heads for Divisions

Following the superannuation and transfer of some of the Division Heads to other agencies, existing Division Heads were reshuffled and new Heads appointed for better administration and management of respective Divisions under the NLCS. Following are the new Heads of the respective Divisions:

Mr. Yeshi Dorji Mr. Binay Tamang Mr. Tenzin Namgay Chief Survey Engineer, Dy. Chief Survey Engineer Dy. Chief Survey Engineer Cadastral Information Division Head, Urban Land Division Head, Rural Land Division Contact No: 325219 Contact No.: 334863 Contact No.: 338066

Mr. Bishwanath Pradhan Mr. Tshering Penjor Mr. Kencho Wangdi Dy. Chief Survey Engineer Dy. Chief Survey Engineer Legal Officer Head, Map Production Division Head, Topographical Division Head, Legal Services Contact No.: 328177 Contact No.: 322588 Contact No.: 338945

Got any enquiry regarding your land?

Get your doubts Mr. Tshewang Namgay clarified by dialling Offtg. Chief Admin. Officer toll free number 152 Head, Administration & Finance Division during office hours. Contact No.: 336390 Volume II Issue I Page 4

Geospatial Data for seven southern Dzongkhags

By Tenzin Norbu, Survey Engineer

The project opening seminar for "Development of Geospatial Data in " under the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) financial and technical support was held on 16th March 2015 to discuss the output and activities of the Pro- ject. The seminar was attended by Dzongdas of the seven southern districts, Thromde offi- cials, JICA project team, officials from relevant agencies and the Opening address by Ms. Yumiko Asakuma, Chief Resident Representative of JICA media. seven southern districts of Thram’s Corner Bhutan. The project was launched and History would take three years to com- plete.  Technology transfer intended The chain survey for the whole for NLCS staff for independ- country was completed by 1972 The project is aimed at deliver- ent development. and its outcome was Acre Zindre ing following outputs: Thram. Acre Zindre Thram literally  Technical assistance for utili- means the draft acreage thram zation in agricultural and in-  Development of Geospatial derived from chain survey. Based information with clear con- frastructure development ap- on the Acre Zindre Thram Acre tents and quality, and ease of plications. Sathram was introduced meaning understanding for users in the land holding size maintained in unit of acres. The Acre Sathram was prepared and endorsed from 1967 till 1973. The land previously recorded in the Martham Chem were registered in Acre Sathram and new land registration was done after making payment.

Centre for Geographical Information System Coordination (CGISC ) members and stakeholders attending the project opening seminar Acre Sathram of 1973 SaZhi Page 5 A team of RBA personnel undergo survey training

Royal Bhutan Army personnel were provided a customised training in Cadastral Survey and Land Admini- stration. 88 RBA personnel includ- ing 5 officers were trained. They will be taking up the third phase of the NCRP staring from Punakha on 20th April 2015. They will survey pending and absentee cases.

Top: Resource persons from NLCS; Below: RBA personnel undergoing practical training in surveying

Head of Rural Land Division superannuates Mr. Sonam Jamtsho, Deputy more than 36 years of dedicated Chief Land Registrar who headed service. the Rural Land Division com- pleted his service term on 1st He started his career as a Lower March, 2015. He was also one of Division Clerk (LDC) in the then the senior most staff in the Na- Land Records Office under Ministry tional Land Commission Secre- of Finance. During his tenure, he Former Head of Rural Land tariat. He joined his service in was instrumental in the develop- Division 1979 and superannuated after ment of land registration system. Volume II Issue I Page 6 Flash back of milestones attained in 2014

Quarterly Newsletter of NLC “SaZhi” pub- Milestone 1 lished Published Flyers on land conveyance pro-

cedures. Enhancing Published brochure on the latest Bhutan service land information at a glance(2014) delivery Introduction of Hotline 152

Formed a special team and resolved pend- 152 ing land substitute cases

Set up Help Desk

Revamped IT Services (increased bandwidth from 4 mbps to 10 mbps) Milestone 2 Held 3rdAnnual NLCS Conference

Instituted in-house coordination meeting Institutional Developed Standard Operating development Procedures

HELP DESK Instituted coordination meeting with Thimphu Thromde on quar- terly basis .

Trees planted in the office prem- ises

Revision of Land Rules & Regulations 2007

Milestone 3 Drafting of Land Policy

Drafting of Data Sharing Policy for Geo- spatial Data Enhancing Land Initiate to resolve and prevent encroach- Governance ment of State land

Revision of Rehabilitation Strategy

Development of Land Bank

Standardized land size for leasing of Com- mercial farming SaZhi Page 7

Land Cover Atlas of Bhutan

Milestone 4 Launched National Geospatial Portal www.geo.gov.bt National Spatial data Organization of Geo Information Expo

infrastructure Enhancing access to reliable geo- development information project under the Dutch financ- ing

Development of Geospatial Data project under JICA financing.

Handed over Thrams of Thimhpu &Gelephu Throms (2727 thrams of Thimthrom & 2259 thram of Gelephu Throm) Milestone 5

Zhemgang Dzongkhag (7170 Lagthrams issued) Issuance of Pemagatshel Dzongkhag New Lagthrams (9784 Lagthrams issued)

Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongkhag (10616 Lagthrams issued)

Milestone 6 Training on Management for Mid Level Manager- “Understanding self, leading others, inspiring colleagues and client care” at IMS

Special Basic Cadastral Survey Training for RBA personnel Capacity & Skill Introduced Integrated Training Programme to be held at development Tashigatshel, Chukha

Milestone 7 MoU signed with Anti-corruption Commission on in-

formation sharing.

NLC signed MoU with BOIC Others

Integrity pack signed with Land Record Officers and Surveyors of Dzongkhags, Drungkhags & Thromdes Volume II Issue I Page 8

Secretary meets Gewog Officials of Pemagatshel

A team from NLCS led by the Secretary visited in the eastern Dzongkhag of Pemagatshel. The main purpose of the tour was to familiarize with local government officials and resolve land related issues at local level.

Pemagatshel Dzongkhag is one of the far flung Dzongkhags with one Drungkhag and 11 gewogs.

The visit began from gewogs under Nganglam Drungkhag. Starting from the first gewog of NLC Secretary lending ears to local leaders regarding land issues Norbugang and followed by visit to Borangmo Rehabilitation pro- gram site the tour ended by visit- sibility to make best use of the different types of land ownership ing and land resources and refrain from such as individual, family and Khenadanng Rehabilitation Site. encroaching on state forest land. joint ownership.

During the visit a number of Besides, people were also land issues were resolved and briefed on importance of Lag- people’s doubts related to land thrams and understanding its clarified. Moreover, the people content. It was also an opportu- were sensitized on their respon- nity for people to know about

Local leaders of Chokhorling gewog Local leaders of SaZhi Page 9 Human Resource Development program

By Tshering Tashi, HRO

Ex-country The first quarter of the year 2015 has seen staff sent abroad for various training programs. Following staff underwent short term training in the Philippines.

Sl. Name Position Title Course Title 1 Tshering Wangchuk Sr. Survey Engineer 2 Bijay Pradhan Survey Engineer 3 Nima Gyelpo Sr. Survey Engineer Land Survey, Administration 4 Tenzin Namgay Assistant Land Registrar I & Management 5 Karma Dendup Land Record Assistant III 6 Rinzin Dorji Land Record Assistant I Operation & use of latest 7 Phuntsho Sr. Technician III Surveying Instruments Succession Planning: Devel- 8 Tshering Tashi Human Resource Officer oping Leaders from Within

Space based Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction in Dehradun Mr. Phuntso Namgay, Survey Engineer, has attended the workshop in “Space based Technology for Dis- aster Risk Reduction” in Dehradun from 13-17 April 2015, which was orgnaised by The Department of Disaster Risk Management.

In-country The Division Heads of NLCS have participated in training titled “Strategic Management” on 10 & 11 March 2015. The Division Heads included:

1. Yeshi Dorji, Offtg. Director/ Head, CID 6. Tenzin Namgay, Head, RLD 2. Binay Tamang, Head, ULD 7. Biswanath Pradhan, Head, MPD 3. Tshering Penjor, Head, TOPO 8. Gyeltshen, Head, PPD 4. Tshewang Namgay, Head, AFD 9. Kencho Wangdi, Head, LS 5. Til Bdr. Ghalley, Accounts Officer

Obituary The staff of National Land Commission Secretariat deeply mourn the untimely demise of Mr. Nima Tshering, who left for his heavenly abode on 9th February, 2015. He served as the Chief Survey Engineer of Topographical Division under National Land Commission Secretariat.

He was a selfless and dedicated officer in serving the public and displayed loving kindness to his subordinates. His memory will always remain in our hearts.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family members and sincerely pray for blessings in spirit and strength at this difficult time. May his soul rest in peace! Volume II, Issue I Page 10 Snapshots of gewog tours under Pemagatshel Dzongkhag

Local leaders of Yurung gewog Local leaders of Zobel gewog

Local leaders of Chimung gewog Secretary talking to beneficieries of Borangmo Rehabilitation programme

Local leaders of Local leaders of Shumar gewog National Parks & Biological Corridors of Bhutan

© NLCS2014 Sazhi Page 12

KNOW YOUR LAND ACT

The Land Act of Bhutan 2007

Section 18: The land categories recorded in Thram pursuant to the Land Act 1979, shall be annulled and replaced hereafter under any of the categories prescribed in Section 19 of the Act, subject to the provisions of this Act.

Section 19: The land owned by different persons shall be categorised and registered in the Thram under one or more of the following land categories: A) Chhuzhing. B) Kamzhing C) Cash crops land used for 1) Apples 2) Orange 3) Cardamom 4) Any other cash crops D) Residential land E) Industrial land f) Commercial land g) recreational land h) Institutional land i) Any other category of land designated by the Commission from time to time.

Know the definition

1. Chazhag Sathram means the sole authoritative document that shall record and establish the legiti- macy of title to land parcel maintained by the Commission Secretariat or its authorized agency.

2. Chhuzhing means irrigated and/ or bench terraced agricultural land for paddy based cropping sys- tem.

National Land Commission Kawangjangsa, Thimphu Please visit our website: PO Box No. 142 www.nlcs.gov.bt PABX +975-02-321217/328181 Hotline: 152